


Of Ballet Shoes and Hair Bands

by GhoulStars



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Author loves to make her characters cry, Awkward Tension, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Boys In Love, Crying, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith, I hope, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance is a Meme, M/M, Pillow Fights, Smiling Keith, Tension, That "fall and land on top of each other" trope because its the best trope, lance is in denial
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-03-26 06:12:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13851762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhoulStars/pseuds/GhoulStars
Summary: Lance is tired after his dance class and he just wants to go home and rest, for fucks sake. Sadly, back at the apartment, Hunk has different plans. He gets a shoe thrown at him and he's left to his poor, lonesome self.To lose some time, he finds himself at his enemy's door. Why did he let  himself do this? Lance, its too late youre already here suck it up.Anyways, now he's being forced to spend time with the person he hates the most. Cuz that's all it is. Just regular old, uh, hate yeah.... yeah.





	1. Fuck his life, honestly.

Lance was mcfucking exhausted. He had spent all day working in his dance class, going over the same damn routine over and over and over again all because one kid couldn’t tell his rights from his lefts! He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes.

 

_Calm down Mcclain, it wasn’t his fault, you’re just sleepy._

 

His blue dance bag in hand, he started to wonder if Hunk had made dinner yet. If he had, the apartment would probably smell sweet and welcoming, just what he needed after a long day of annoying kids, stupid teachers, and mullet-headed assholes. His shoulders relaxed as he walked across the campus. It was beautiful, the campus at night. The sky lit up beautifully with stars, a quiet hum of the wind softly blowing by, the dull lights from the buildings casting shadows over the courtyard, making them dance.

Lance let out a quiet laugh, the dancing shadows reminding him once again why he loved what he loved, dance was universal. Something everyone and anyone could do, no matter how good or bad, the way the body moves is a beautiful thing. It was open to all kinds of dances; classical, modern, or something completely special to just you, it was beautiful. His dream of being on a stage and dancing in front of thousands of eyes, making them wonder  just how could someone move so fluidly? How can someone be so beautifully crafted to move like that? Lance loved that about dancing. The fact that he if he moved just right, the audience would awe and clap. Praise him for putting in all the effort to be able to move like that. He wanted eyes on him, and only him. Being in his last year of college, he knew it would be soon.

His ballet classes were tough though, especially in high school when he was made fun of for wanting to do something so _girly_ . Ha, jokes on them. He gets to see pretty girls every single day and they loved him too, so who was the real winner in that situation? _Take that, Chad._

 

He got to his apartment rather quickly, it being only half a block away from the main campus, twisting the key and stepping inside. The sweet aroma of freshly baked buns filled his nose and he drifted towards the kitchen on a cloud of hopefully soon to be eaten flavors.

“Hunk, you sweet, beautiful man, I would marry you in a second if I could come home to these smells every day for the rest of my life.” He said as he dumped his dance bag on the table and went to hug a surprised Hunk.

“Lance! You’re early, uh..” Hunk looked around nervously. “I wasn’t expecting you home so soon, hah…”

Lance’s face scrunched up suspiciously, what was Hunk hiding? He looked around, arms still around his best friend and then, there it was. A large yellow jacket and a small pastel green purse settled into their couch.

“Oh. OhHOHOHOHO HUNK, MY MAN!” Lance let out as he quickly turned to his friend. “Oh my god, Hunk you finally did it, didn’t you! Oh my god, you WOMAN KILLER!” Lance laughed loudly as Hunk grew redder and redder at every tease Lance threw his way.

“Shut up Lance! She’s going to hear you!” Lance eyed the bathroom at the end of their hallway, guessing that’s where Shay was at the moment. _Oh, Hunk. I’m like 90% sure she already did. Thin walls, buddy._

 

“Okay, okay, jeez Hunk. What’s the big deal, anyways?” Lance said, getting off Hunk and leaning on the counter next to him. There were cute little flowers Hunk probably picked himself sitting in a vase Lance had previously thought was just a large cup. What a sweetheart.

“Lance..” Hunk said shyly, looking down at the ground, an arm behind his neck. “I asked Shay on a dinner date, and I was kind of hoping to ...you know… be alone with her?” Hunk looked up with slight guilt in his eyes.

 

Oh. So _that’s_ what this is about. Lance was slightly tempted to play the dramatic ‘You’re kicking me out!’ card in which he fake cried and fell to the floor but Hunk really did look nervous for the date, so he’ll cut him some slack.

 

“Hunk, my man, all you had to do was tell me you were gonna get it tonight, man! I would’ve understood!” He did only say _some._ Lance grinned and picked up his car keys from where he had thrown them earlier before going to class.

 

Hunk blushed, “N-no Lance, jesus christ- that’s not what I-you know exactly what I- I would never do that!” he stumbled over his words trying to find the right ones to speak his utter distaste towards the idea. Lance snickered and walked towards the door backwards.

“Get iiiiiiit Hunk!” he said grabbing a jacket quickly and rushing out the door. Just as he closed the door, he heard a dull BAM hit the door.

Lance laughed loudly, Hunk had probably thrown a shoe at him.

 

He started walking downstairs, one arm putting on his jacket, the other flipping through his phone, wondering where he could go while Hunk had his date.

Allura’s? No, she went with Nyma to visit her dad for the week, the good old “parent meets girlfriend” deal. Poor Nyma, Alfor is one scary dude.  Pidge’s? Nah, she would probably chew him out for interrupting her hard, hard work besides, Fridays are her go to work days, because she’s strange like that. Lance bets she was actually playing some weird dating game or an erotic story game instead of working, but hey he was no one to judge. He could go to Matt and Shiro’s but he wasn’t in the mood to deal with their lovey dovey romance ugh. Listen, Matt might be a meme like him, but the guy is disgustingly romantic. He saw the contact “L” and knew he wouldn’t even try to go to Rolo’s. Lance didn’t like him all that much, and if the fact that Rolo liked to flirt Keith up and down whenever they were doing a group hang ever gets brought up, just know his dislike is completely separated. He’s just a huge loser, alright, no one needs those big muscles or the macho attitude or the stupid eyes that angsty boys probably love. Whatever.

He scrolled through his contacts, sure there had to be someone who wasn’t busy on a Friday night, would be willing to have him stay for either the whole night or a few hours depending on how Hunk’s date went, and give him food.

His thumb froze as he read a single name. No. No, no way.

_Mullet Boi-_

Not going out on a Friday night? Check. Willing to let him stay? Sort of check. Food? Check!

Fuck, he didn’t really have a choice then, did he? He sighed as he got into his car and drove to Keith’s, a hesitant frown on his face.

When he got there, he saw the lights on from his apartment. God, Keith was lucky to have a bottom apartment, carrying groceries up two flights of stairs is extremely hard work. Lance shut off his car and just sat there, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do.

He and Keith didn’t have the best history. They had met in high school, freshman year.  Lance instantly liked him because he was one of the few boys who thought Lance was pretty cool for taking ballet. Okay, maybe he was the only one, but still, Keith’s bad boy attitude and the fact that he punched a senior for shit-talking Lance was a pretty good tie breaker for liking him. Keith went to all of his shows and always supported him, and in turn Lance was always there when Keith needed something or just to talk, they were pretty close back then. Hunk went to a different high school, so Lance only had Keith. They clicked and stuck together, it felt like nothing would tear them apart. But, as time passed Lance found himself feeling strange things towards Keith. Far more than just friendship. He would look at Keith when they reached senior year, and wonder what it would be like to run his hands through his hair, softly as he lay on his lap humming softly. What would Keith do if Lance tried to kiss him, hold his face in his hands and press the lightest of kisses on his lips? Lance freaked out, he didn’t understand why he felt like that, what was happening to him, so he pushed Keith away. Convinced himself that his crush was just jealousy. Keith was good at everything he did, Lance noticed but never cared before, always better than Lance in some way or another. Lance had a new packet of cool gel pens? Turns out Keith had a new packet of thin Sharpies.

He could tell that Keith was confused about the sudden change in their relationship, but Lance knew Keith got riled up easily, and used it against him. He bet that Keith was too much of a scaredy cat to beat Lance at every turn in their lives. Their relationship completely changed, turned into something dark and sometimes a bit painful. Lance had started to think maybe he had gone too far, pushed too far away. Maybe Keith hated him for reals. What if he did? What would he do? Why is he so worried about Keith hating him out of more than just competitive anger?

Lance shook himself out of his thoughts and locked his gaze on the door to Keith’s apartment.

A year ago, Lance had come to terms with his bisexuality, but by then, his relationship with Keith had been destroyed. Nothing but competition and annoyance was left, which in turn made Lance even angrier at Keith. How dare he have such a hold on Lance’s feelings yet be so cold and closed off to him?

He grabbed his phone and stepped out of the car, the cool night air hugging him soundly as if he were wrapped in thin layers of ice.

“Fucking christ, now you decide to turn ass degrees cold?” He whispered to the sky, and in response, he felt a stronger gush of iced wind hit him straight in the face. He frowned and closed his car door, walking briskly to Keith’s door. He muttered to himself as he knocked on the door, cursing himself for even doing _this, god why did he let himself come here this is such a bad fucking idea, you idiot fucking ch_ -

The door opened and a confused Keith looked up at him, hair messy and pulled into what resembled a ponytail. Keith had to shake his hair out of his eyes to see who it was properly. _What a nerd._

“...Lance?” Keith questioned, looking at the boy in front of him with complete surprise.

Lance rolled his eyes so hard, he swore they were going to pop out. “No, it’s the pizzaman here with your delivery of YES IT’S FUCKING ME, WHO ELSE?”

Lance angrily pouted as he shoved past Keith into his apartment. Keith huffed, turning around to him, throwing the door closed behind him.

“Lance, what the fuck, you can’t just show up at my house!? Why didn’t you call to tell me or something?” Keith looked flustered, but his eyebrows were set in an annoyed and angry state, hands folded across his chest parallel to his hip jutting out to the side in the sassiest pose Lance has ever known.

“Calm your tits, Mullet. Hunk had a last minute date, so I’m crashing at yours till he gives me the okay to go back home.” He looked around while taking his jacket off, admiring the slight changes he noticed since he was last here. It was clean like always, but he saw he got rid of the living room table, his walls now had a few pictures of him and his family. _Cute._ When he turned back to Keith he saw he was already shaking his head in disapproval.

“Lance, you gotta at least call then, I could've… had someone over or … I don’t know, been out.” Keith told Lance, a serious look on his face,

Lance started laughing abruptly, hand covering his mouth and the other on his hip as he looked at keith incredulously. “Keith ‘Loner Emo” Kogane, having someone over? Much less going outside of all places? Hilarious, Keef!” He laughed again as he saw Keith’s cheeks redden, turning away from Lance a bit. He noticed what Keith was wearing then, a loose black shirt that draped long over his hips, around his thighs and a pair of slightly dirty grey sweatpants. Fuck his life, honestly. It made him self-conscious of what he was wearing, he probably should’ve changed after dance class, he was still in his light blue t-shirt and his tights.

Lance eyed Keith’s sofa and leaped onto it, bouncing slightly as he looked for the remote to Keith’s t.v.

“Okay, so uh, where’s the remote Mullet, I’m missing out on some big time Cake Boss, I need to see what Buddy’s making today!” He kicked off his shoes and sat back comfortably with a pillow in his arms, hugging it tightly as Keith sighed loudly and went to grab the remote.

“I can’t believe you watch Cake Boss still, didn’t it go out of style like, three years ago?” Keith said an exasperated frown on his face. As he sat down on the other side of the couch, Lance kicked him out of spite because how dare he diss the cake king? Buddy makes pure art, and if there’s anything Lance loves to watch and admire it’s pure, beautiful art. _Like Kei-gODFUCKING DAMN IT NOT NOW INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS! Why can’t I have normal thoughts about murder or something fuck´s sake._

They stayed like that for an hour, watching Cake Boss and laughing at the mishaps of Buddy and his family, Lance grew more comfortable sharing jokes with Keith and realized, he was happy to have come here. These moments where they joked around genuinely and made each other laugh were extremely rare. Lance felt nostalgia for his teenage years, how it was exactly like this all the time. He looked over at Keith, wondering if he felt the similarity too and ready to toss another joke when he stopped, his lungs abruptly stopping. He saw him laughing silently at the tv, a hand covering his mouth partially before he switched it to under his cheek, head tilting slightly, an action  Lance found utterly … beautiful. The way Keith’s hair curled around his neck in the ponytail, how he had his knees tucked neatly under him, his pale hands grasping lightly at the blanket they agreed on sharing earlier as it got colder, lifting one to lightly cover his shoulder. Lance was left breathless. What about this moment left him feeling like he was throw into the middle of the sea without a boat or any knowledge of knowing how to swim? Was it Keith’s small smile, and how it seemed liked the rarest thing he had ever seen?How it was so soft, giving the smallest hint of happiness, bright in his own way?  Keith wasn’t known as a happy person, yet here, in this moment, the way he looked, Lance would swear right and now he would do anything to keep that smile on his face.

Lance was starting to feel slightly dizzy, so he looked back at the television, trying his hardest to forget what just happened to him. He was on the brink of tears, why now? Why today? Why him? _Why, why, why ,why?_

He silently took in a shaky breath as he refused to look at Keith again, instead standing up abruptly.

“Lance?” Keith’s voice came out worried and soft, his eyebrows drawn together hiding a bit in his hair, his eyes shining with the brightness of the tv.

Fuck his life, honestly.

“I’m just stealing food from your kitchen. All this Cake and no food is making Lancey Lance hungry.” He threw a bright grin down at Keith with some of his trademarked finger guns before turning and heading to the kitchen, arms around himself to shelter them from the cold. He threw Keith’s fridge open as he scanned the inside, judging every single thing.

“KEITH, WHO IN GOD'S NAME NEEDS 5 CANS OF WHIPPED CREAM?!” He yelled out to Keith in the living room.

“SHUT UP, STOP JUDGING MY FOOD.” Keith whined back, Lance laughing at the way he could just hear the angry pout.

He looked through some more cabinets before be found a nice, unopened package of Oreos.

“Bingo.” Lance whispered to himself, as he walked back to the sofa as fast as he could, the cold starting to crawl up his legs. He jumped into the sofa again,and scrambled to get his feet under the blanket. Keith let out a short screech as Lance’s cold feet clashed with his.

“Jesus fuCK LANCE, NO YOU’RE COLD GET AWAY,” Keith swatted at Lance’s legs before tucking his legs closer to himself, trying to keep his warmth. Lance laughed, “Don’t try me, Kogane, I will push you off this couch and haul your pale ass onto that kitchen floor.”

Keith glared at him, and sank deeper into himself as he predicted what was going to happen.

Lance sat in the middle of the sofa and dug his feet under Keith’s to try to get warmer. “Lance Mcclain you absolute monster!” He squealed as the cold of Lance’s bare feet sank into Keith’s warm ones. “You asked for it, Kogane.” He shrugged as he peeled open the pack of Oreos. He didn’t get far before a pillow hit his face. Lance sat there, utterly shocked at the mere _audacity._ He heard Keith silently snickering.

“You asked for it, Mcclain.” Keith taunted him, his voice going deeper to mock Lance. _Oh no, now it’s on, pretty boy._ He threw the pack of oreos somewhere on the rug in front of the sofa before grabbing the same pillow and smashing it on Keith’s head. “Oh, you asshole!” Keith said, determined smile on his face as he grabbed another and shoved it in Lance’s face causing him to fall back on the couch. Lance scurried to get up as Keith’s laughter rang in his ears, nearly falling off the couch as his legs tangled in the blanket. The blanket. _Bingo._

He smirked at Keith before pulling the blanket from under him, legs coming out from where he sat, Keith scrambling to grab onto the couch. Lance laughed with Keith as they both stood up on the couch and started attacking each other back and forth, Lance going for the stomach and keith attempting at his legs to make him fall. Keith ducked easily as Lance backed off to one side of the couch, hurling pillow after pillow at Keith. He realised how unstrategic that was because as soon as he ran out of ammo, he looked up at Keith, who now had all the fucking pillows. Has he said fuck his life yet? Because fuck his life, honestly.

Lance screeched as he dodged pillow after pillow, legs apart as he tried to bend down to pull at Keith’s leg, preparing to make him fall and win once and for all. Keith anticipated it and tried to pull Lance up by his shirt, but at the same time they both pulled, they realized they had fucked up. Almost as if in slow motion, Keith was slipping from the couch his eyes widening as he pulled harder at Lance to try and get back up, but Lance lost his balance too. They both toppled on the floor, a mix of pointy elbows and hard knees.

“Ow, ow, ow, fuck I think you fractured a bone.” Lance said, his head against the floor, dramatically holding his arms above his head. “I’m pretty sure I just bruised my entire stomach jesus, why are your legs so pointy?” Keith groaned as he lifted his head from Lance’s chest. Keith’s arms were held in the space between their bodies, snuggled up before Keith took one hand and put it next to Lance´s head for support.

“It’s because I have a god's legs Keith!” They stared at each other, Keith's eyes filled with utter amusement before they started laughing together, taking in the absurdity of what just went down. As their laughter died, Lance suddenly came to the realization of the position they were in. Lance was flat on the ground, Keith in the space his wide spread legs had created when he fell. His cheeks grew warm as he saw Keith’s laughter slowly die out too, all that was left was a soft look. The same fond one from before, except this time directed straight at Lance. He felt electric, Keith’s look freezing him in place, yet warming him up more than he has ever felt. Keith’s hair fell around him, framing him in a sort of dark halo as he smiled down at Lance, his eyes hooded and beautiful. Now that Lance was here, he could tell his eyes were actually purple, not black. His mouth was slightly parted and Lance could feel how his body moved when he breathed. His lips.

His lips… were right there. All he had to do was sit up a bit, and everything he had ever thought about could become reality. Keith’s eyes flickered down to Lance’s lips, so fast Lance wasn’t sure if it really happened. He would’ve been able to tell had he not been mind fuzzied over Keith’s closeness, but alas, he was fucking mind fuzzied over Keith’s closeness. Keith licked his lips, eyes losing the softness and becoming  a bit hazy, Lance felt his breath get caught in his throat for the second time that night.

**Fuck his life, honestly.**


	2. Are You Fucking Kidding Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith's day isn't as normal as he thought it would be, serious drama ensues.

Keith’s day had been as normal as ever. He woke up to an empty, silent house in which he could hear a pin drop if it happened. He always felt strangely unnerved by the quiet, no matter where it was, it made him paranoid, fearing that something would happen unless there was some kind of sound. 

Therefore, the first thing he did every morning was put on his music, and every day without pause his neighbors were able to hear the melodic beats of MCR’s Dead, followed quickly by Evanescence's Bring Me to Life. Keith absolutely hated when Lance called him “emo” but then he looked at his music taste, his collection of old chokers, and his eyeliner and he swore he didn't mean to be a goddamn stereotype. After turning on his music, he looked down at his clothes, wondering if he should change. He had on a loose P!ATD band t-shirt and grey sweatpants, since he didn’t wear socks to bed, he was barefoot. 

_ Fuck it, not like anyone’s going to visit me anyways.  _

He stepped into the bathroom, quickly grabbing a hairband and shoving his hair into a messy ponytail so it didn’t get in his way. 

Keith cleaned his house, not because he particularly cared about cleanliness, in fact, it was quite the opposite, but simply because he had nothing else to do with his time. Shiro was always spending time with Matt, which was valid, he understood the importance of their relationship, he didn’t get to see Pidge often due to her job at the college as a high-level model technician at only 18, and well, he wasn’t very close to Hunk or Allura. Lance was out of the question, and he will always be. 

He didn’t understand what went wrong, they got along so well as teenagers, but then Lance pulled away emotionally and started hating him. He was scared that it was his fault, that the crush he had on Lance was too obvious and Lance somehow found out, disgusted at the fact that Keith had a crush on him. He was practically in love with Lance at first sight. He was standing proudly in his ballet outfit, smack talking the tall jock in front of him. Chad, he thinks his name was. The way he was so confident, so fiery and passionate made Keith feel amazed at this simple boy. After, he went up to Lance and told him just how cool he thought he was. They became instant best friends. Keith loved to see him dance, the way his body bent and his face became peaceful and calm, his movements fluid and beautiful, moving easily like calm waves on an afternoon sea. It entranced him, he felt as if Lance was magnetic. His crush just grew and grew throughout the four years of high school, and he knew Lance would never like him back, it was something he had accepted. But when Lance started pulling away, looking at him like Keith was something akin to the plague, stopped touching him in familiar ways he had, it hurt. It wasn’t like it was his fault for being gay! Or for having a pure, innocent crush! Keith had never done anything to warrant the absolute  _ heartbreak _ Lance imposed on him. Lance was all he had at the time, he didn’t trust anyone else with his emotions, with his story, with his heart, and Lance has stepped on all three. He became angrier, more pissed off as he realized that the separation wasn’t his fault. If Lance hated him for being gay, fine then, he could go fuck himself, Keith made a pact to not give a shit anymore. 

Sadly, Lance’s magnetism was too strong. Keith was pulled into every petty competition, every fight, every tease that ended up with broken teeth or bloody lips. He just couldn’t escape Lance Mcclain, hard as he may try. There were moments, when he felt he could have had a chance, like when Lance came out as bisexual to everyone. Or when they got stuck in the elevator for 3 hours, Lance easily calming him down from his claustrophobia, voice smooth and caring. But Keith knew better, because, after every instance, Lance came back with the insults and the arguing, never stopping. 

Of course, he fell in love with Lance, but those feelings were gone by now. Right? He had moved past them, going as far as dating other boys and going to gay bars for quick hookups, but they never lasted. No one in his life was a constant like Lance was… 

Keith shook himself out of his thoughts, picking up his phone and dialing Shiro’s number. It rung a few times before a bright, deep voice answered. 

“Hey, baby bro, what’s up?” Keith rolled his eyes, god he was so embarrassing. “Hey Shitty-o, I’m calling to make sure you aren’t dead yet.” Keith glanced around his apartment, noticing his DVD player for the fifth time. “Besides, you promised you’d fix my DVD player for like, three weeks. When is it gonna happen, asshole?” 

Shiro laughed, loud and melodic. “I, uh, have some free time today. Mind if I stop by?” 

 

After a while, Keith had finished cleaning and sat on his couch, wondering what he could do until Shiro came over later that afternoon. He picked up his remote and looked through the Netflix shows, some were pretty bad, terrible actually. There was a show that seemed pretty cool, but it seemed too similar to Power Rangers, and he had to admit, he had absolutely hated Power Rangers as a kid, connecting the show with a bad feeling that kept him from ever clicking it. Keith groaned, promising to at least try one episode later. As he clicked the play button on Queer Eye, he jumped at the quick knock on his door. He looked at the time, it was still too early for Shiro to come by, so what the fuck? 

He groaned once again as he was forced off his comfortable position on the couch by the knocks becoming louder. 

“Jesus fucking Christ, wait!” He stumbled towards the door, tripping over a pillow that fell off the couch as he got up. “What the fuck do you want?” He asked loudly as he opened the door. 

“Uh, hey Keith! Sorry, didn’t mean to disturb you, haha.” A loose smile and a pair of large shoulders greeted him, the familiar hat with goggles on top of white hair. 

Keith smiled widely, “Rolo! Hey, what’s up? Um, what are you doing here?” He leaned on the door, hand on his hip as he waited for Rolo to answer. 

“I’m here to visit you, angel.” He said with a smile, laughing a sweet laugh that made Keith smile back. “I brought you a few more movies to check out, I know you’re going to love The Mothman Series, it is so bad.” He took out a few DVD boxes from his bag, holding them out for Keith to see. 

“Holy shit, Ro, these look fucking amazing!” He flipped through the bad cryptid movies before looking back up at Rolo. “Here come in, it’s getting pretty cold.” 

They both stepped inside and Keith kept reading the movie synopsis of The Mothman Series. He let out a quiet laugh, “Shit, as much as I want to see it, my DVD player is still broken.” He glanced sadly at the cursed object before looking apologetically at Rolo, who was sitting on his counter now. “Shiro did promise me he would come by later to fix it though so, raincheck?” 

Rolo smiled brightly, his eyebrows raising in surprise. “Dude, of course! No need to be sorry, you know I’ll take you up on that raincheck.” They laughed together as Keith had been rainchecking on him for almost four weeks since his player broke. 

“Here, to make it up to you, how about some lunch?” Keith said, walking to the kitchen before setting down the box of movies inside his movie cabinet under the tv. “Oh, Keithy, you sure know the way to a man’s heart, eh.” He smirked as he got off the counter, meeting Keith’s walk to the kitchen halfway. “By the way, you look beautiful today. Have you looked in the mirror yet?” 

Keith blushed intensely, opening and closing his mouth like a gaping fish trying to find a valid response.  _ Jesus fuck, woah, okay.  _ His breath rushed out of him in an exasperated sigh. “Rolo, Jesus fuck, you and your weirdly timed compliments, you know I don´t do goddamn compliments.” He pouted angrily and slightly flustered before playfully punching Rolo in the arm as he laughed. 

“Aw, but baby you look so cute when you’re mad!” He called to Keith as he quickly walked to the kitchen. He was used to this kind of banter, the one where Rolo said sweet, amazing things to Keith, and Keith, due to his lack of human affection, turned as red as a fire hydrant, struggling to find a response. Everyone said it was because Rolo was trying to get in his pants, but he honestly didn’t see it. Lance flirts all the time with Allura and he’s not trying to get in her pants. Or, at least not anymore since he found out she didn’t care for the male species. Point is, not all flirting is to woo someone, so Rolo obviously was just play flirting, like Lance did with Allura. Friendly, good-natured flirting. 

“Rolo, do you want a sandwich? It’s all I have for now.” He called out, bending over to look into his fridge, moving objects to see if he found anything hiding behind the milk. He frowned deeply seeing his old, expired cheese sticks behind a shit load of useless food. Goddamn, he really had wanted to eat those. A cold hand on his hip jerked him out of his head, Rolo’s large hand on the space where his shirt rode up. Keith jumped, hitting his head on the inside of the fridge before standing up, holding his injury. “Jesus fuck, Ro, don’t scare me like that!” Keith groaned, eyes bleary as he looked up at Rolo. 

“Dude, I called you like three times, I had to make sure you were alive in there.” He laughed out, leaning back on Keith’s counter, next to the stove. Keith rolled his eyes and finished getting the ingredients out, and started making lunch for both of them. Rolo stood next to him, watching and talking about his latest project, he was a mechanic so most of what Rolo talked about when right over his head. He didn’t do cars, he was more of an airplane kind of guy. Although he did have a sweet motorbike. 

They sat down together and were thinking about what to watch as they passed Cake Boss. 

“Look, Keith, you may be pretty but no way will I accept watching Cake Boss. It’s been like, three years since it was even popular, it’s bland.” Keith gaped at him, “What are you saying! Cake Boss is amazing? The art they do on the cakes is utterly great and perfect, what do you mean, bland?” His eyebrows drew together as he glared daggers at Rolo, insulted at the comment he made. 

“Nuh uh, Keithy, choose another show.” Rolo fought back as he shoved a tomato in his mouth. Keith pouted angrily, but it was fine. He understood the fact that everyone had moved on from Cake Boss. Rip in pieces, Buddy. 

As they watched their show, Keith stood up to get a drink, asking Rolo if he wanted any juice. “Anything from you, angel.” He smirked, an easy smile playing on his lips. Keith shook his head, smiling a bit, “You goddamn nerd.” 

He was able to pour two cups before putting his juice back in the fridge and was carefully starting to take them back to the couch, keeping his eyes strictly on the cups. He knew his house layout by memory, so he could put all his effort into not spilling these shits. 

In a blur of movement, Rolo was in front of him, Keith looking up in surprise before his eyes widened, realizing he had collided with him, the juice started to spill over the edge, sloshing on Keith. “Oh my god, Keith I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there, I was just trying to see if you needed help.” Rolo apologized, but Keith was just standing there, soaking in the fact that yes, that was ice cold orange juice on his nipples, and currently flowing down his stomach.  _ Holy fuck that is cold.  _

He burst into action, quickly putting down both cups with barely any juice left on the counter and scrunching up his shirt at the bottom of his stomach, stopping the juice from getting his sweatpants dirty. “It’s okay dude, really it’s no problem!” Keith tried to comfort a distraught Rolo, who was still apologizing as he cleaned up the juice from the floor. Rolo stood up and looked at the dirty mess he made on Keith’s shirt. “I’m so sorry, oh my god, here let me help you, I’ll get you another shirt in a bit, yeah?” Rolo went to quickly wash the rag he used to clean up with hot water as Keith wondered what the fuck he meant. When Rolo came back, he took off Keith’s hands from his stomach, lifting his shirt and starting to pull it off. Keith’s eyes went wide because,  _ uh what the fuck. _ He cooperated though, realizing this was what Rolo meant when he said he would help Keith. As soon as the shirt was off, Keith felt extremely self-conscious. Here was a literal sculpted god staring at his small, thin body. Yeah, so uh, if Rolo could please stop staring, like, he gets it; he looks frail. Keith instantly grew defensive, he wasn’t frail, hell he could beat up Rolo in under three fucking seconds, fuck him. 

“Rolo?” Keith asked, an edge to his voice from his defensive state. Rolo seemed to snap out of it, looking back at Keith’s face, smiling apologetically. “Yeah, sorry, it’s just..” Rolo brought the warm rag to Keith’s chest, “I really do mean it when I say you’re absolutely beautiful.” The warm drag of the rag cleaning up the stickiness on his skin didn’t compare to the ice cold feeling of realization. Oh.  _ Oh.  _

Shit, what should he say now?

Rolo was cleaning his chest, moving down to his stomach and Keith was frozen, staring down at Rolo’s hands. He looked up slowly, searching for answers to a million questions and met Rolo’s eyes. They were dilated, hazy. Keith didn’t understand what the absolute fuck was happening,  _ how did this even-what?  _

Rolo’s hands grew slower and he stared at Keith, and he noticed that Rolo was moving in a bit closer to his face. Shit, shit, shit, shit, he knew what that look mixed with that action was now, fuck. “Rolo, uh, I think I got it from here, thanks,” Keith said abruptly, it sounded extremely loud in his ears compared to the numbing silence that stood between them in those few seconds. He grabbed the rag from Rolo and stepped back a bit, seeing how Rolo blinked quickly, before looking over at Keith. 

“Sorry, I should.. I should go.” Just like that, Rolo turned around, grabbed his jacket and left. 

Keith let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.  _ What the fuck???? _

He finished cleaning himself off and grabbed a long black tank top from his closet. As he looked through his clothes, Lance’s voice appeared, whispering a soft “emo mullet-boy” into his head. Shut up, Lance... _ Lance _ … He started to wonder what would’ve happened if Lance had been there. Would he have stopped Rolo? Or maybe he would’ve pushed Rolo aside and yell at him for spilling perfectly good juice? What if Lance pushed Rolo away, taking the rag himself and helped clean Keith up, slow and warm? What if it had been Lance who looked into his eyes like he was everything, muttering the same words, coming in closer, hands on Keith’s hips? 

Keith took in a shaky breath, he knew he wouldn’t have backed away then. Keith shut the doors of his closet with a loud BAM. 

He finished cleaning up the juice as Rolo did a pretty shit job of it, the floor still being majorly sticky and just all around disgusting. He put the remaining juice in one cup and put the other in the sink before gulping down the juice. He couldn’t help it, he was really parched after the … whatever happened. It was just too much to take in. 

He picked up his phone from the counter where he left it earlier and sent Shiro a quick text. 

 

**_Keith:_ ** Hey, shito i’m not feeling too good, come tomorrow?

**_Shhhhiiiiit-bro:_ ** What’s wrong? Are you okay? Did you eat laundry detergent again?! 

**_Shhhhiiiiit-bro:_ ** Keith I swear to fuck if you did, youre not gonna have ice cream privileges anymore 

**_Keith:_ ** THAT WAS ONE TIME, AND IT WAS ON ACCIDENT, IT LOOKED LIKE SUGAR WHAT DID YOU EXPECT ME TO DO? NOT SHOVE SUGAR 

INTO MY MOUTH??? 

**_Keith:_ ** ANYWAYS, no, i just feel a bit mentally and emotionally tired- besides it’s friday night, asshole. Don’t think i don't know about you and matts little date nights eh

**_Shhhhiiiiit-bro:_ ** ….fine. Text me when youre feeling better, Mr. tide pod challenge

**_Keith:_ ** SHIRO I SWEAR TO FUCK I WILL TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THE TIME YOU SHOVED A BANANA UP YOUR NOSE TO SEE IF YOU COULD “SMELL IT BETTER” AND GOT IT STUCK SO DEEP YOU HAD TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL TO GET A LITERAL BANANA OUT OF YOUR NOSE

**_Shhhhiiiiit-bro:_ ** touche…. See ya later asshat

He sighed in exasperation, his brother was such an ass. He cleaned up the living room and was about to start washing his dishes when he heard a knock on the door. Was it Rolo again? God that was going to be an awkward conversation. He glanced at the time, it wasn’t that late but still, Rolo never showed up past seven. He frowned as he went over and opened the door, eyes wide as he saw who was standing there. 

“Lance?” 

Lance was sitting on the couch next to him, both deeply invested in Cake Boss. Although he did love the show, Keith’s mind occasionally started drifting, wondering why Lance chose Keith’s place out of all his friends. And why didn’t he at least change? Here the asshole was, sitting on Keith’s couch wearing tights of all things. Keith may not be religious, but he prayed to any god up above for the chance Lance put the stretchiness of his tights to use. When Lance stood up to go get some snacks, Keith couldn’t lie, he was  _ absolutely _ checking him out as he walked away. Fucks sake, he was used to being tortured like this but never while they were alone and laughing together? Keith felt like he was going to implode, tucking the blanket under his legs. 

When he first hit Lance in the head with the pillow, he couldn't help the giggle that left him, the look of betrayal on Lance’s face was too good, he felt his insides warming up, something bright and hot growing in his chest. When Lance started the pillow fight, adrenaline filled his blood, rushing and making him even giddier than he was. Lance laughing and smiling just for Keith made him slightly dizzy, the bright thing growing even more. That’s why now, as he holds himself up above Lance, he can’t look away from his eyes. The bright feeling has clogged his insides, squeezing his heart and cutting off intelligent ideas from reaching any part of him. Keith realized he felt comfortable here, in between Lance’s legs, huddled close to him, feeling his erratic breath as they both calmed down from the fight. Lance´s eyes were bright blue. Not that fancy blue people in tv always talk about, it was a normal blue, but Lance looking at him, the light from the kitchen highlighting part of Lance’s face making him look ethereal, they looked like the brightest, most beautiful blue he had ever seen. Keith felt his thoughts getting more and more muddled as he glanced down at Lance’s parted lips, wondering what would happen if he just lowered himself a little. Closed the distance and brushed his lips against Lance’s. 

Keith started moving without thinking, leaning down as he saw Lance’s eyes grow lidded. Slowly, so slowly, Keith took out his left arm from between them and placed it on Lance’s hip gently, now fully on top of Lance. Keith grew warmer everywhere instantly, his stomach now fully on Lance’s and even though their shirts were between them, Keith felt impossibly close. Lance sucked in a breath as Keith lowered himself more, now mere inches from his. Keith gave Lance time to pull away, but as he scraped together any piece of intelligence left, he remembered what he thought of earlier. He wouldn’t back away. 

Keith closed his eyes as he slowly got nearer, his nose brushing Lance’s. He felt a warm hand on his arm, gripping tight in anticipation. He could feel their breath mingling together, both wanting this, but too anxious to take the last step. 

Just as Keith was about to close the few inches between them, a loud knock on the door made them jump. Keith glanced at the door, another knock making Lance jump beneath him as he struggled to sit up. 

“You should um,” Lance cleared his throat, his hoarse voice making him cringe a bit. “You should probably get that.” He finally said, blush high on his cheeks as he looked everywhere but at Keith. 

_ Oh.My. Fucking. God. I am about to fucking murder whoever is at the motherfucking door, you absolute piece of shit, who would fucking dARE- _

Keith nodded softly, scrambling off Lance as he ran towards the door, tripping over several pillows now on the ground from their pillow fight. Keith was livid, he was so close, so fucking close! 

With a scowl on his face and his eyes screaming bloody murder, he yanked open the door to glare at whoever was standing there. 

“Hey! I, um, wanted to apologize for earlier, so I brought you these and figured, maybe we could talk?” Rolo stood there, a bouquet of red roses in one hand and a box of Oreos in his other. 

_ Are you fucking kIDDING ME? _

Keith sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand while letting the other land on his hip, absolutely fucking done with everything. “Look Rolo, now is  _ really _ not the time-”

“Keith?” Lance’s voice came from inside, low and squeaky. “Um, Hunk just messaged me, h-he said the house is clear, so, I … I should really head home.” He turned around to see Lance looking for his flats while putting on his jacket. “I’m terribly sorry for staying so long but I should really get going.” Lance walked up to the door where Keith was standing across from Rolo, flowers, and cookies in his hands. Lance didn’t look Keith in the eye as he gently pushed past them, making sure to nod curtly at Rolo. “See you two…Have fun.” 

Lance disappeared into the parking lot, walking fast with his shoulders hunched. 

Keith stood in disbelief, not understanding what just happened. Wait, Lance just fucking left without saying anything, without talking about what happened back there. “Wait! Lance!” He called out, stepping out from the doorway past Rolo, but he couldn’t see Lance anymore. “Fuck!” He turned around, hands going into his hair, pulling it from utter annoyance and disbelief. Rolo stood there, the bouquet of roses falling sideways as he tried to put together what just happened. “Rolo, look, now was really not the right time for any this. I’m sorry, but right fucking now, I’m not in the mood to deal with,” He gestured at Rolo and the things in his hands. “Any of this.” Rolo’s eyes looked hurt, but he smiled tightly and nodded. 

“Sorry, I really am. I really didn’t mean what happened earlier, and I suppose what happened now.” He looked down at the things in his hands. “At least take these? Please? We can talk another day, I really am sorry.” Rolo handed Keith the small bouquet and the Oreos before turning around and disappearing as well.  _ What the fuck??? What? The? Fuck?? _

Keith threw his door closed loudly and threw the pack of Oreos on the couch, they bounced a bit before falling to the side, landing next to a slightly open pack of more Oreos. Keith sat down as he looked at the box Lance had thrown to the side before attacking him with a pillow. A small smile formed on his face, his living room looked like a mess. A blanket strewed about in the middle of a ton of pillows, the majority from his couch but some from his room that they picked up when they got the blanket. Keith ran a hand through his hair. 

He started cleaning up again after shutting off the tv, the memories of Lance’s laugh and how he looked under him, eyes lidded and lips parted were burned into his brain. Would Lance want to talk about this? Should Keith call him? GIve him time? Keith had no idea what to do and he was about to start having a panic attack, so he picked up his phone and dialed Shiro’s number, it only rang once before he picked up. 

“Shiro, I fucked up. I need your help.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm actually making a story out of this??? hell yeahhh   
> Thanks for reading!!


	3. Unbreakable, Bitch.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is stronger than anyone gives him credit for, he's also an amazing mastermind.   
> Hunk is underappreciated and deserves all the love in the world, okay.

Lance ran. He ran and ran and didn’t stop until his legs started cramping up. Tears ran down his cheeks as he fell silently on the wet grass, curling into himself as the night consumed him. He drove off after the encounter with Keith and Rolo, feeling like an absolute fucking idiot. God, how did he not see it before?! Of course, Keith was dating Rolo, all those fucking times he’s seen them together, Rolo draping over Keith’s smaller frame. 

 

He should’ve fucking known. 

 

His cheeks felt icy as the wind blew over the warm trail of tears, his heart pounding quick and fast, unrelenting. He thought there was something there, something…  He hiccuped loudly, head clearing for a second. 

 

No. No, no, no. There wasn’t anything there other than hate, nothing was there. 4 years. Four fucking years of shoving everything down and dating to get rid of the ache. He shouldn't give a shit if Keith was dating Rolo, so what? Lance hated his guts… right? Lance let out a cruel laugh, shaking his head as he looked up, defeated. 

 

Four fucking years pretending he wasn’t in love with the fucking asshole, Keith Kogane. And for what? For it all to crash down in one night, just because it seemed like Keith was going to kiss him? All because Lance hoped he would? God, did Lance hope...

 

Well, fuck him. Lance angrily wiped his tears and stood up, trying his best to brush off the dirt his wet knees. No. 

 

Lance spent countless time and energy working on who he was today, building up a ruthless loving machine who stood tall and strong in the midst of heartbreak. He was fucking unstoppable, unbreakable. He was a strong, independent young man so fuck Keith. 

 

_ Yeah, fuck Keith. And not in the fun way.  _

 

And if Keith thought he won, oh boy, did he have something coming. That asshat and his stupid hair were going to regret ever making Lance fall in love with him. Not that he was, of course. Whatever, it didn’t matter, because Keith was going to regret everything.

 

He grinned, walking back to his car, confident and giddy. He was a bit confused as to why he drove to a park in the middle of the night to be dramatic as fuck, but Lance was dramatic as fuck, so there’s the answer, he supposed. Lance climbed in, closing the door and blocking out the outside world as a plan started forming. 

 

Step one was to find his damn phone, he looked everywhere until he found the bright blue glitter case under his seat. 

 

_ Why does this always happen, what the shit? _

 

He unlocked his phone, smiling at the selfie of himself in a flower crown that appeared as his background. Damn, he was hot. 

He opened the Apple store and downloaded the one app that would bring about Keith’s utter destruction. Tinder. 

 

Lance would hit back with the one area he knew best; making people jealous. 

 

From tonight, he had a pretty clear understanding of what went down, now clear-headed and unemotional. Keith was dating Rolo, who showed up with flowers and probably candy. Lance had no idea what they were talking about since well, the sound of his heart breaking was much, much louder. It was obvious from the way Keith’s eyes dilated when he was close, that he probably was attracted to Lance, and well, hah, who could blame him, right? Meaning, Rolo was probably either not giving it to Keith right or Keith was just overly-excited from the pillow fight. 

_Or I'm just way too good looking for my own good._

Lance shook his head, the reasoning didn’t matter nor did he give a shit what Rolo and Keith got up to, he bets Rolo isn’t even a good boyfriend. An unwanted memory popped up, Rolo giving Keith the flowers and the present, his face soft and smiling. How had Keith reacted? Keith's back was facing him, so he never got to see, even as he left, he made a point to not look. Did he have that starstruck look on his face? The one he gave Lance, his warm hand on his hip, rubbing circles into him as Lance felt himself lose control? Did his lips part in the same way, his eyebrows raising softly as if he found the answers to every question? Did Keith look at _Rolo_ like that? 

Frowning, he discarded the memory, whatever, it’s not like he cares. At all, it didn’t matter. A little voice in the back of his head called him a liar, but what did he know. He heard a loud **_ping!_** and he knew that Tinder was finished. 

Ooh boy was Lance going to have fun with this. 

After making his account and choosing only the best and most good looking of his selfies (which was all of them but still, he had some favorites), he started swiping. One thing Lance instantly noticed were the amount of white boys without shirts smoking or vaping. Jesus fucking christ was there a filter on this thing? Could he filter out these white boys? Please?

Sighing, he put his phone away and turned on his car, remembering where the fuck he actually was. He stopped thinking about the reason why Lance had even gone to Keith’s in the first goddamn place: Hunk. See, Lance had lied when he told Keith Hunk messaged him, Lance had no idea if he had, he just needed to leave as soon as possible. He hurriedly checked his messages and in between his exes and a few unknown numbers, he saw a small orange message box reading “ _ Hey Lance, dates over! Hurry home, I made hot cocoa! Xoxo”  _ Sent at 8:04 p.m. Literally a fucking hour after Lance left, when he and Keith were in the middle of Cake Boss. 

Lance threw his head onto the wheel, feeling like an absolute idiot. He could’ve left hours ago, avoided every single thing that happened tonight, if only he had checked his fucking phone. 

Fuck his life, honestly. 

 

 

“Hunk! I´m home! Is the chocolate cold, because I feel like shit and I really need some.”  Lance threw his keys on the table and went into the kitchen turning on all the lights. “HUUUUuUUUuuuUUuuUUUNK” He whined louder, he didn’t care if it was 11 pm or if the neighbors could hear, he wanted some damn hot chocolate. 

“I’m here! I’m here, calm down.” Hunk said, coming out of his room in his orange puppy pjs, looking sleepy as hell. “Are you okay?” Hunk looked up at Lance, seeing the pink tinge that hadn’t fully left yet. “Oh my god Lance! What happened? Who hurt you? Give me his name, I will go out right this minute and smack him.” 

Lance smiled, it was always amazing to see his best friend worried about him. He hugged Hunk, warm and soft and fluffy Hunk. “Lance?” Hunk pried, hugging back. “Oh, hunky-boo, you utter angel. You’re not appreciated enough, like ever.”  Hunk hugged tighter and the two stood there for what seemed like hours. Finally, Lance sighed, pulling away. “Don’t worry Hunk, it was just some stupid boy who doesn’t mean anything. I’m better and moving on, I swear, hunky-poo.” Lance crossed his heart as he backed to find the chocolate, Hunk’s face twisted into one of concern, but he let Lance do as he pleased. “Hmm, I don’t like it, but okay. Just for tonight. And nope, no chocolate for tonight, Lance, you have a class tomorrow morning at nine and you need sleep okay?” Hunk picked up a whining Lance, who was kicking and trying to get out of Hunk’s grasp. “But Huuuuuunkk!” 

Hunk walked them both over to Lance’s room. “I promised I’ll make you a super yummy breakfast okay?” He put Lance down, smiling at his angry pouting face.  “Come on, Lance. Off to bed.” Lance let out a dramatic sigh, leaning his shoulder on the door frame. “Fiiiine. But that breakfast better be damn good hunky-poo.” Lance turned and slammed the door, just to be dramatic, he knew the breakfast would be good. It always is. 

 

He walked to his bed, kicking random stuffed animals and dirty clothes to the side. Goddamn, he needed to clean his room. Lance sank into his bed, his ninja turtle sheets covering him in soft warmth, his troubles from the day melting away as Michelangelo held him tight. “Shit, I need to do my skincare routine before it gets too late.” He turned his head to look out the window, the shine of the half-moon reminded him that the world is absolute bullshit created by society to make people tired and depressed so that they will buy random, costly bullshit to make themselves happy again just to realize that material objects mean nothing and neither do they until the day everyone dies and this Earth turns back into the space dust it once came from. 

 

Anyways. Lance took out his phone after that weird mini-existential crisis he just had and got back on Tinder, ready to scout for them spicy people online. He first saw a girl, 22, named Catherine. She was pretty enough, he supposed but her profile had the fucking Ugandan knuckles meme on it, so she obviously was not up to date with memes. He swiped left. The next guy had blonde hair and green eyes, he liked to climb mountains and ooh boy if that shirtless selfies didn’t wanna make Lance climb something, if you what he means. He didn’t care to read the rest of the profile after he read “Wanna climb me, I mean with me?” He swiped fucking right. Just then his phone screen lit up with the casual “YOU’VE GOT A MATCH!” message. Nice, but he wasn’t that desperate so he’d let the blonde text first. An hour and a half later, he had fifty matches and twenty new messages, this was going pretty well. Now, the next step in his plan was to find someone to take on a date tomorrow afternoon. He knew Keith worked afternoons at the coffee shop on campus, don’t ask why, it’s not because he used to watch him from the bookstore across the street, ha, the fuck as if he would. 

Anyways, the plan would be to make Keith jealous while Lance is out with a nice, sweet, hot as fuck guy to show Keith that he didn’t give a fuck about him or what happened so ha, take that Keith. It would work to perfection! His phone pinged and he looked at the little bright screen. 

   ONE NEW MESSAGE FROM DANIEL

Daniel, he remembered that name from earlier, a cute, tall, dark-haired boy with the most mouth-watering pecs he had seen. He would work perfectly.

He opened the message, a quiet little, “Hey! What’s up?” on the screen. That’s cute, Lance thought, no dirty text or stupid one-liner. Lance sent off a quick, flirty text and while he waited for an answer, he got up to do his nightly routine and fixed his bed to sleep, after all, he had a 9 o clock class tomorrow. 

A while later, he had a date, a comfortable position inside TNT blankets, and a smile on his face. All in a days work.

 

Tomorrow was going to be fun. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jLance goddamn it, stop going to sleep at one am, what about your frickin beauty sleep damn it. 
> 
> afhsk So I've been thinking I may change the fic rating due to some scenes I have in mind for both the next chapter as well as future chapters! As soon as I write the next chapter, it'll probably be moved to M, just a heads up! 
> 
> Also, due to my own experiences on Tinder, the friggin amount of white boys vaping is astonishing, like jesus fuck. It might be just where I live or it could be world-wide but still, it's scary yall.


	4. Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance thought his plan through and he was going to get just what he wanted, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so remember how the last line of the last chapter was "Tomorrow was going to be fun"?   
> yeah, ahhhahahha, keep that in mind. :)

 

“Hold up, so you almost kissed him, then Rolo showed up, and then he left running?” 

Keith was screaming in his head, having to repeat the story to Shiro for the third fucking time. “Yes, you shit, the boy just… ran… Look I called because I need help figuring out what to do, or where I fucked up.” Keith sunk into the couch, cringing as he remembered what was happening just an hour ago. 

“Will you tell me who this boy was?” Shiro’s stressed voice came through the phone, digging into Keith’s tired ears. Why did he call Shiro again? 

“...no…” 

Shiro sighed. “You’re making this way harder than it has to be Keith, if it’s someone we know I could easily tell you what to do depending on the person, for example if it was Lance-” Keith shrieked. 

“WHY WOULD YOU THINK OF LANCE FIRST, WHAT THE FUCK SHIRO, I MEAN JESUS CHRIST, THAT'S RIDICULOUS-” Shiro was too old for this shit, so he sighed again letting Keith rant his ass off about how much he hated Lance.

“Are you done?” 

Keith pouted angrily, face red from exertion, “...Yes.” 

“Okay, so now that I know it’s  **_not_ ** Lance,” Shiro went on, voice dripping with sarcasm, “I’d say to just go talk to him. If Rolo really doesn’t mean anything to you romantically, then explain things out, tell him how you really feel, ask him on a date. Easy as that.” Keith groaned, sinking deeper into the couch. 

“Shiro it is not that easy, there’s so much other shit, like what of tonight really didn’t mean anything to him? Or what if he didn’t like it, or me? What if he was just surprised, not really in the mood as I thought and the kiss was never going to happen either way, what if he ju-” **_“KEITH:”_**   “Yes, Shiro?” 

“Shut the fuck up. Go talk to him.” Shiro’s voice was final, and Keith knew he wouldn’t stand for any more of his bullshit. 

“Ugh, I hate when you’re right. Sadly, I’m emotionally unstable with no background on healthy relationships or even healthy ways to deal with my emotions so I’m not gonna listen to you and wallow in pain and self-pity by myself until I drown and eventually ignore my feelings till there’s just a void of nothing.” 

“....”

“....”

“Yeah, sure, sounds like you, good luck with that, you muppet.” Keith hung up. 

What was he going to do? Lance had just, left. And Keith couldn't do anything. The one thing he had wanted for the majority of his life left, just like that, he let him slip through his fingers and now Lance probably hated him. 

Well, more than before at least. Keith dug his palms into his eyes, trying his best to forget the memory of Lance leaving his apartment, seemingly forever.  

He turned on the tv and played a documentary, trying to forget everything that happened tonight, everything that he would wallow in self-pity for later on. A little voice in the back of his head urged him to rethink this. Keith shut it up because what did he know. He didn’t know how to deal with emotions, Keith wouldn’t lie, but he wanted to for once. He wished he knew exactly what to do to get Lance back here, warm and laughing with him, cold feet and all. A small smile crept up, and Keith forced it down. Lance was gone. Lance hated him and the almost-kiss meant nothing to him. He fell asleep on the couch, curled up into the blanket repeating it like a mantra. 

  
  


“FUCK.” Lance had overslept, last night he set his alarm at 8:30 pm, not am and now it was 9:15 and he was fucking late. He ran around his room, tugging on a pair of whitewashed skinny jeans and a pale striped shirt as he looked for his shoes that he threw somewhere around here he was sure. “HUNK HAVE YOU SEEN MY SHOES?” There was no reply, which of fucking course, he forgot Hunk had a class at 8 today, shit. 

Lance ran out of his room backpack in hand and looked into the kitchen, a small note standing next to a very delicious looking breakfast, hot chocolate and all. “Hunk, you sweet, precious, amazing person.” Lance was on the brink of tears at how lucky he was to have Hunk as his best friend and roommate but he didn’t have time to look at the note, it was 9:30 now. Grabbing his keys and running out of the apartment, he ran as fast as his skinny legs could take him all the way to the English Studies building. He stopped at the door, looking at his phone. Ha, it was only 9:45, not bad Mcclain, not bad. He slowly opened the door, looking inside then quickly sliding into an open seat in the back. Taking out his laptop and papers from last class he elbowed the person next to him. “Hey, uh, what’d I miss?” 

The girl startled, looking up from her computer, which now that Lance could see was actually the front page of Tumblr, not notes. He snickered, elbowing her again. “Bitch, me too.” 

The girl’s eyes widened, blushing and closing the website. She cleared her throat before explaining to Lance what he missed, while Lance typed it all down. That was the cool thing about college, everyone was the same kind of fucked up and tired, so everyone related to each other. 

An hour and a half later, he stepped out, running a tired hand through his hair because jesus fuck, was English boring. he couldn't wait until his dance class tomorrow, he needed to let all this stress out in the way of ballet shoes and grande jetés. 

He pulled out his phone, unlocking it to reread his conversation with Daniel. Lance had to give it to him, he met all of Lance’s requirements: cute, funny, tall, loves puns, and is up for eating ice cream at eleven in the morning. He smiled at his phone, reading a new message Daniel sent about his utter love of hamsters and animals in general. Has Lance said how fucking cute he was? He was going to meet him in a few minutes at the local ice cream shop, sure it was a few hours before he had originally planned, but who cares, this will work just as well. 

“Hey! Lance, right?” Lance turned around quickly, startled as he saw a tall, tanned boy smile shyly at him. “Daniel?” Lance replied, quite smoothly. God, who was this fucking hot ass softy, jesus christ his heart was going to implode. 

“Yeah, that’s me! So, what can I get you? You did say the mango ice cream was your fave, but are you sure you don’t want to try matcha?” Daniel grinned at him, holding out a hand for Lance to take in a shirt that really complimented his arms. And well, if Lance could say, _damn Daniel_. 

They ate their ice creams near the fountain on campus, talking about classes and majors and random school stuff since well, they were technically at school and that was the first topic to come up. Lance was having fun, despite everything, but he felt something missing. It was weird, but he couldn’t place his finger on it. He shook the feeling off and listened to Daniel talk about his sports scholarships. Apparently, he was good at basketball, or was it football? He internally frowned, he didn’t have a knack for sports personally, in fact, he didn’t give any shits, but Daniel liked it so he listened politely. Out of the corner of his eye, a mass of black hair appeared. Lance jumped and turned to get a better look. There, without a doubt, was Keith, walking to work without a care in the world, not even looking up from his phone. He had his hair down, a black shirt and dark jeans that seemed like his everyday wear. Lance laughed softly to himself, that idiot has zero fashion sense, it was kind of endearing. Keith was walking across the center from them and Lance knew from experience that Keith usually walked the long way to work so it was time for the next step.

“Lance? Is something wrong?” Daniel asked, shaking Lance from the fog of his own mind. He turned back, an apologetic smile on his face. “Sorry, I just, I thought I saw someone but, it doesn’t matter.” He stood up, taking Daniel’s hand in his, holding it tight. 

“Besides, I thought I was supposed to be going to a little coffee shop today with a really cute guy.It was gonna be a really cute date, you know.” He threw his best flashing smile at Daniel, winking at the grin he threw back. Daniel’s hand slipped from Lance’s own, slipping around his waist as he took the lead towards the shop. It was unexpected, bringing back memories of Keith’s hands in his place, his skin burned where he felt the ghost of his fingers. It brought back the dream he had last night, a scenario where there was no interruption at the door. Of Keith’s lips against his own, the warm slide of his hands on his’s skin, of the way Keith moved above him, marking Lance’s neck like a work of art. Lance shook his head,  angry at himself for thinking the same shit over and over again when he really didn’t care about it anyways. It was a stupid dream, it didn’t mean anything at all, Lance didn’t care about Keith anymore. 

 

“Hmm, you’re right. Can’t let the poor guy waiting, now can you?” Daniel smiled back. 

_ Can’t keep who waiting for what? _

_ Shit right, date.  _

Lance gave him a slightly nervous smile feeling the warm weight of Daniel’s arm around him when he spotted the same pale figure coming even closer now. Lance steeled himself and pulled the arm even tighter against his waist. 

“Come on Daniel, I know the perfect coffee for you.”

They walked together, laughing softly as they spoke until they reached a small table right outside the coffee shop. Lance knew Keith would go in through the back, so he had time to settle in and pretend they have been here for hours. Lance sat next to Daniel, closer than he really needed to, but it was all part of the plan. Daniel didn’t seem to notice, happily sitting down and talking animatedly to a very distracted Lance.

“And that’s why Snorlax is obviously the best Pokemon of them all.”  Lance stopped, turning fully to Daniel. “I’m sorry what? Psyduck is obviously the best one, are you insane?” Lance was appalled, he was disgusted, he was-

“Okay, okay, I see where you’re coming from and I do see his traits but listen, what about Poliwrath? He’s a strong ass fighter, even though I personally hate water type.” 

That was it, nope. This was not going to work out at all, Daniel had no common sense. “Look, water types are fucking amazing, okay, and they are simply one of the best, next to fire types.” Lance gave Daniel a steely look, daring him to disagree. 

Then, Daniel laughed. He fucking laughed. Lance laughed right along with him, because wow, they were incredibly ridiculous. Daniel kept laughing, leaning into Lance, putting a sneaky hand on his knee. Oh, so they’re doing that now, huh. Just as Lance was going to retaliate, a soft cough came from above them. Lance looked up, freezing in his spot. 

Keith stood there, eyebrows drawn together looking angry, but then again, his face was set in a permanent bitch face so Lance couldn't tell the difference. “So are you going to order or just sit around wasting space?” Keith growled out. 

Lance shivered at his tone but glanced at Daniel before setting his face in an easy grin, slowly leaning into Dan as he gave his order. 

“Okay, so I’ll have the iced caramel latte with a pump of vanilla and two pumps of hazelnut, and he will have the…” He looked at Daniel, making sure to make a show of checking him out before turning back to Keith. He had a murderous expression on his face, lips drawn together tightly and Lance was a tiny bit scared but he didn’t give a damn. Right?

Lance smirked, looking up at Daniel. “He’ll have the Cuban Espresso.” Daniel laughed, putting an arm around Lance’s shoulders. A part of him hated it, hated having Keith right in front of him watching this. It wanted to throw Daniel’s arm off and apologize for everything, but what did he have to apologize for? Lance didn’t belong to Keith, Keith didn’t even like Lance properly, Keith was dating someone. So fuck that. 

“Guess that won’t be the only Cuban I’m eating today then?” Daniel laughed lightly, smirking at Lance who gasped dramatically. “You idiot, you don’t eat coffee!” He laughed before whispering loudly into Daniel’s ear. “But maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll get to taste Cuban tonight.” Daniel flushed and Lance sat back in his chair, pretending to forget Keith was there. Talking about Keith, when Lance looked back up, he was sure Keith was 3 seconds away from driving the pen he was holding into Daniel’s neck. From the way he was gripping said pen and glaring daggers at Daniel, Lance was sure his guess wasn’t too far off. Lance's nerves were on fire, he was anxious, waiting for what Keith would do, how he would react. Lance was, to say the least, excited. 

Keith cleared his throat, closing his eyes and brushing the annoying hair in his way before opening them again and looking straight at Lance. 

“Will that be all?” 

It was so … _cold_. Lance felt the change instantly, his eyes locking with Keith’s blank ones. His face was set without emotion, clear of anything and everything, in fact, he looked a little bored. There was a sad drag to his eyes as he glanced at Daniel before locking again with Lance. 

He couldn’t speak. Everything felt wrong, as if the universe was laughing at him, shoving in his face all his mistakes. His heart raced as he felt Daniel´s arm grip his shoulder, but even that couldn’t shake him out of it. Everything was wrong, looking at Keith now, the comparison of last night and right now was like a bucket of cold water being thrown at him after bathing in a jacuzzi. He couldn't find the warm eyes that looked into him, the small smile that lit up Lance's world in a second. His throat was dry and his lungs weren’t doing as they had to, Lance was frozen. 

“Yeah, for now I think that’s all we’ll need, right babe?” Daniel’s voice pulled him out as he turned quickly to look at him, blinking fast. Daniel looked like he was expecting something from him, what was it? 

_ Shit, right. _

“Uh, yeah,” Lance laughed a bit to ease the chill in his bones, “We’ll let you know if we need anything else later.” Keith stared at Daniel for a while longer before nodding quickly and turning away, walking fast to the inside of the shop. 

Daniel laughed, resting his forehead on Lance’s cheek. “Oh my god, the way that waiter looked at us!” He laughed a little louder. “He must have hated the way we acted so cuddly and sweet.” 

_ You’ve got that right.  _

Lance laughed with him, “He probably just gets this kind of couple all the time, he does work at a coffee shop, you know?” They laughed together, but Lance’s was empty. He didn’t understand why he felt so … disappointed. This was what he wanted, for Keith to look at him and Daniel and just hate it, to look at him and realize that Lance was not someone to fuck around with. Instead, all he got was … nothing. There was no reaction, no outburst of anger, no threats with maybe a knife at either Daniel’s or Lance’s neck. Nothing.  Keith’s face was burned into the back of his head, the cold stare which Lance could read nothing into, the set lips which closed off all emotion, the set eyebrows giving him nothing. Maybe Keith didn’t care… About Lance or Daniel or any other guy or girl he ever hooked up with or dated. Lance felt his chest deflate. Keith didn’t care. Of course, Lance was an idiot, he didn’t know why he even tried to do this in the first place. Last night didn’t mean anything, he already knew that. It didn’t magically change his and Keith’s relationship as if this was some sort of romance novel. Lance looked inside the little coffee shop seeing the people in there, happy and smiling. There were couples sipping coffee, exchanging secret conversations. There were students, typing away quickly while drinking two cups at a time. There were groups of friends, laughing and making noise as they all shared jokes around the tables. The workers were simply there, walking between each group and then walking away. The people didn’t remember the workers, they had their own lives and the workers didn’t fit into any of them. They simply smiled and ordered, then went back to the task at hand. 

He knew what that felt like. 

His chest felt heavy, a dull pain aching from inside. 

“And then he walked up to her and started yelling like crazy! He was so pissed off that she had eaten his watermelon, it was so fucking bad!” Lance zoned back into the conversation if he could call it that. He let out a small smile and decided to let go. He sank into the chair, let himself find a comfortable space with Daniel’s arm around him and the table digging into his side. 

A few minutes later, a different waiter delivered their coffees. He didn’t know why that stung as hard as it did, but there it was. The girl gave them a tight-lipped smile before muttering “Enjoy.” and walking off. 

They separated to drink their coffees, Daniel still talking fast and excited and Lance quietly smiling and laughing when he thought he had to. He sipped his latte with an easy smile, still bright as ever, Daniel’s hand on his thigh. When it started moving upward, Lance bit his lip as he stared at the table, hands gripping his drink like a life-line. He quickly glanced into the shop, but Keith was nowhere to be found, and the cold seeped deeper. His attention once again was captured by the hand kneading into his thigh, Daniel now talking in hushed tones, voice in his ear.

Did he really want this? 

 

He was pushed against a wall, a high pitched moan escaping him as warm lips kissed his jaw, moving down to his neck. Hands were everywhere, his own inside Daniel’s shirt, dragging his fingernails down his back, Daniel reaching into Lance’s jeans and cupping his ass tightly in his hands. Lance gasped, one hand going to the wall to steady him as Daniel pulled him forward. They made quick work of sneaking into Daniel’s room before they were yelled at in the hallway, Lance’s shirt disappearing without a second thought. 

There was warmth everywhere, between his legs as Daniel opened him up, in his body as he got closer and closer, on his face as the tears fell. 

He was enveloped in heat, yet he had never felt so cold. 

An hour later, he lay in Daniel’s bed, naked and under a thin cover as Daniel snored softly next to him. It wasn’t even five pm yet. Lance was tired, in more ways than one. He moved his head up to try and look out the window to find it shut and closed off. He stood up, making sure to not wake Daniel, and searched for his clothes. He left without a word or a note, closing the door softly behind him. 

 

Lance was numb. 

 

Only when he got home and slipped into bed did the tears fall freely. Why was he like this? 

He hated himself, he hated what he did, how he was no better than a cheap whore who couldn’t keep it in their pants. He hated himself for being so _fucking easy_ , a score that anyone could get, always just another hookup. He hated the way he was paraded around, how everyone had a story of the time they fucked Lance Mcclain and how Lance let them share it. He hated how he was the booty call of person after person, to the point he didn’t care who was in his pants anymore. He hated that this was the only way he could truly feel _anything_ because when he was climaxing, he didn’t feel sadness or worry, or hatred, he felt bliss and just that. He hated how all it took was a smile and a fucking hand on his thigh. How he had been so emotional, so fucking caught up in his head that all he could think of to relieve the cold was to be fucked senseless. 

 

Lance laughed coldly as he curled up into himself, sniffing and letting out a loud sob. 

 

A whole lot of good that did. He couldn’t do anything right, not even make Keith feel something. All he wanted was a reaction, something that said: “You’re not going crazy, I do feel something for you, it’s not all in your head!” He wanted… What did he want? 

Lance rubbed his eyes angrily, not caring if he saw white spots dancing over how hard he rubbed, not caring that he felt the dull pain in the back of his skull as he pressed harder then. His chest felt heavy and he couldn’t breathe. He cried louder, his knees coming up to his chest to try and relieve some kind of pain, to hide from it at least. 

He didn’t want to feel anything. How did Keith do it? Go along every day, cold and emotionless, feeling nothing for anyone? 

He wanted that, to be able to stop caring, to stop all of this, to stop the tears that flowed fast, to stop the pain in his lungs as Lance gulped air in harshly. He gripped his arms tightly, his head lowering and tucking itself right beside his knees. 

He fell asleep, not long after, not waking to the soft knock that came from the door. Or when Hunk came in, seeing Lance curled in a ball under his covers, his face streaked with dried tears. He didn’t wake when Hunk sat down next to him, holding back tears at seeing his best friend like this. He didn’t wake up when he felt warm arms wrap around him, a promise of safety and care, a silent sniff behind him as the arms hugged tighter. 

Lance didn’t want to wake up.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh boy, okay so I might have cried a little while writing this chapter but uh what can I day? I'm a slut for angst. 
> 
>  
> 
> psst, I have a tumblr! @ghoul-stars


	5. What Is Love? (Baby don't Hurt Me)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has a breakdown of sorts and Rolo, poor guy, helps Keith pull his head out of his ass.

“How many days?”

Hunk stood holding a bottle of Lance’s prescription medicine, opened but barely used.

“Almost two weeks.” He curled into himself as much as he could on their dining room chair. “It’s just that, Hunk, I was doing fine. I was doing amazing even! I don’t want to rely on that shit man.” 

Lance wrapped his arms around himself, forcing his eyes to stop their insufferable burn of almost crying. 

“Lance, these are here to help you. I know you don’t like relying on them, but they help. I’ve seen the change personally, and I would give my own soul to the one thing that got my best friend out of bed and kept him alive.”  Hunk gripped the pills in his hand. Lance looked down at the floor. 

“I know.” A single whispered word that both could barely hear. “I’m sorry.” 

“No, don’t apologize. I know how much you hate this, but Lance with your therapist visits and these pills, you’ve been improving so much. I’ve seen you sing again, smile again, be happy again Lance. One day you might go off them and not need them anymore, but for now,” Hunk filled a glass with water and popped open the pills. “Here.” 

Lance nodded, taking the medicine. “I don’t know what I’d do without you Hunk.” He smiled tightly up at him as two warm arms wrapped around him. 

“And I you, Lance “ Hunk laughed softly, ruffling his hair. 

Lance laughed, pushing Hunk off him. “Okay, okay. I get it we love each other very, very much, but I have to prepare my stuff for class. I’m leading a dance routine today and if little Alberto doesn’t get his shit together today, I’m going to snap.” Lance smiled at Hunk, a reassurance that he was feeling better, okay enough to be left alone. “I might be home late but don’t worry, okay? I fully expect a full plate of garlic knots when I come home.” 

Lance stood up as Hunk brightened easily, a large smile on his face. “You got it, buddy.” 

As Lance turned to his room, he was pestered with thoughts on his situation. He had no idea what to do next, or if he was even going to do anything. He knew he liked Keith, he couldn’t hide that from himself anymore, he was fucking exhausted. 

_ Such good that did me anyways.  _

Lance didn’t know what to do, so he did what he knew best: push it down until he eventually forgets. He smiled to himself, seems like a good plan. 

-

 

Keith was livid. He had so many hopes for the next time he would see Lance, how the confession would go, telling him that he’s loved him for years now and that he didn’t think he could ever love anyone else the same way. He thought of Lance’s reaction, surprised at first but then he’d go soft and pull Keith into his arms. Their first kiss would be magical, as if finally after such a long time, these two souls found their way back to each other. They’d fit like puzzle pieces, perfectly. 

Keith wiped angry tears from his face, not allowing any sort of emotion to pass through. He was at home, pacing back and forth, going over every little detail of his meeting with Lance yesterday. 

How could he be so stupid? Thinking Lance actually might have some feelings for Keith, he was an idiot for putting his hopes up. 

The morning before he called Shiro again, had the same conversation but with a different outcome. Shiro talked sense into him, saying wise shit like “If he was willing to kiss you, not moving away or giving you any sign of no consent, you probably have a chance.”  And not to mention, "Besides, I've seen Lance making goo-goo eyes at you for years, square up Kogane." 

And Keith had believed him. They spent an hour talking going back and forth between possible scenarios, possible outcomes, but this hadn’t been one of them. 

Keith felt… he didn’t even know how he felt. Lance and that guy had been right in front of him, making eyes at each other and groping, laughing, sharing secretive smiles. As soon as he saw them in the cafe, Keith wanted to throw up. His emotions went wild, feeling too much at the same time and he didn’t think he could handle being here for longer than an hour. He walked around taking small orders and calming his nerves before his manager called him to take the table of two outside. Lance’s table. 

Oh, as if the universe didn’t hate him enough. 

Keith walked up to them and he knew from the start, the guy that was sitting next to Lance, arm wrapped around him as if he was his possession?  Yeah, Keith  _ hated _ him.

He spent the majority of the time glaring at him but then he turned to Lance. God, Lance. He was smiling so brightly, looking at the guy like he held all the answers of the world. Was Keith missing something? How long had these two been together? Is he why Lance left? 

So many questions plagued him, but when Lance looked into his eyes, he felt nothing. His body was numb, his emotions stopped reaching him, he couldn’t think. Lance’s eyes were shining, they looked so warm, so happy. There was something under it, something he couldn’t detect, but it didn’t matter. 

A loud knock at his door shook him from the memories. He laughed bitterly because honestly, these past few days, knocking had easily become his least favorite sound. 

He should just remove his door. 

_ Or live underground without any doors for people to knock on.  _

_ Maybe get a ringer.  _

He wiped his face as best as he could and opened the door, his eyes red and puffy, tired as hell. But Keith didn’t give a shit honestly. "Fuck you want?" He rasped out. 

“Keith?” A surprised Rolo shot forward, his hands cupping Keith’s cheek and tilting his face upward. “You’ve been crying, oh my god, did something happen? Are you okay?” 

Keith laughed bitterly, “Is the answer ever going to be yes if said person has been crying for the past 3 hours?” Shit, he hadn't meant to tell him that. Keith jerked his face away. “What do you want Rolo?” 

Keith wished he could blame this mess on him, to just push every single bad thing that had happened since that night on Rolo, to hate him, but he knew he couldn’t. Rolo hadn’t done anything wrong. 

In fact, that day he had been trying to apologize, so he couldn’t even be mad about that. Keith was getting a headache. 

“I-but you,” Noticing Keith’s glare, Rolo sighed. “I came here to talk, and to explain things but Keith, right now I care more about your well being than my petty apologies. What happened?” 

Keith once again laughed, was there anything this guy said that didn’t frustrate him to fucking bits? He couldn’t even be mad for him interrupting his pity session because he’s being so fucking nice, what the fuck.

“Oh you know, just the one person I’ve loved since high school is probably in love with another person even after giving me some hope that hey, maybe they might like me back you know. Just your usual.” He gave a sarcastic smile, turning around and throwing himself onto his couch. 

“The person you love?” Rolo asked, shutting the door behind him and sitting on the edge of the couch. “Who was it?” 

Keith rubbed his eyes, knees up to his chest before looking straight at Rolo. “Lance.” He laughed and looked up. “Lance McfuckingClain. The sole holder of every emotion I’ve tried repressing for years.” 

Rolo understood. “Does he know?” It came out soft and without any threat, but Keith couldn’t stop himself. 

“Does he know? Does he fucking know? Are you seriously asking that seeing me like this?!” Keith gestured to himself. “He’s happy with someone else, out there drinking Cuban coffees, sitting hand in hand, kissing and being happier than I could ever make him and you're fucking asking me if he  _ knows _ .”  Keith was trembling, his eyes wild and teary again, overcome with emotion suppressed for so long. It was all coming out. “I’m just so tired, Rolo…. Of always getting my hopes up just to get it shoved in my face just how much he doesn’t care… of always hanging on to every word he says because even when he’s an idiot he’s so utterly beautiful in his own way… of falling in love over and over with the one man that can’t love me back.” A tear slipped through his iron walls, he was so tired, so goddamn tired. 

“I keep fighting this…” Keith gestures to his chest. “This feeling. Because you know what, Rolo? Even after all this time pretending I hate him and holding a grudge, I’m in love with him.” His voice cracked under the weight of his words. "And it hurts. I would give anything up for him, just to have him smile at me, just to have him hold my hand." Keith sniffed. 

"Did you know that I hated every single one of Lance's conquests? Every person he's dated? Because they got to see his smile, to have his wild personality all to themselves, to surround themselves in him when I couldn't. I spent years being his friend just to be thrown away last minute, none of them knew him like I did." Keith was shaking whether, from anger or sadness, Rolo couldn't tell. "They don't know that he prefers caramel over chocolate. That he can't stand Ariana Grande but will rock out to Taylor Swift in less than a minute. They don't know he's insecure about his looks, even though he's the most beautiful person I have ever met. They don't know that he prefers people to play with his hair instead of rubbing his back when he cries."  

Keith wiped a tear from his cheek, sniffing once more. "Is that pathetic?" Keith let out a bitter laugh, glancing at Rolo. "How utterly, pathetically I'm in love with the one guy who loves everyone but me?" 

The blank boy who never let anything show was a nebula of emotions, a disaster of bits and pieces thrown together to create a breathtaking picture, overwhelming and all too powerful for him to bear.

Rolo took a deep breath, looking at the crumpled form of Keith on the couch. “You have to tell him.” 

The words were too loud for the apartment, ringing in Keith’s ears. It was a stupid idea. 

“Listen to me before you throw the idea away, okay?” Rolo sat down fully next to Keith. “So, I thought I had fallen in love with you.” 

Keith looked up, incredulous, because really? Noticing the side eye Keith gave him, he laughed a bit. “Just hold on. See, I thought I had. It’s actually quite funny, how you never really noticed when I flirted with you or tried to ask you out on dates. After a while, I started noticing why. The more I hung out with you and the group, the more I saw your face when you saw Lance.” Rolo looked down at Keith. “It was infuriating at first, because there I was, making a fool of myself to get you to notice me and all Lance had to do was smile. I thought it was a stupid crush, so I forced myself to try and be straightforward with you. I was going to tell you I loved you and that even though you had a crush on Lance, I was the better option for you.” Rolo shook his head, a bright smile on his face contradicting what he was saying. 

“The day I was going to do it was a house party at Shiro’s. I looked for you everywhere determined to find you and confess when I saw you and Lance sitting together on the back porch. He was pointing things out for you, constellations perhaps, and you would look up and smile brighter than I have ever seen you smile. It lit up your whole face.” 

Keith looked up at Rolo and noticed a sad look in his eyes when they met. “Brighter than I could ever make you smile.” He looked up at the ceiling and huffed out a laugh. “The funny thing is that looking at Lance, he had the same smile. When you looked up at the stars, he would turn to look at you and he’d grin. His face was open, vulnerable.” He sighed. “That’s when I realized that no. I wasn’t the better option for you. I left and tried to get rid of all these weird emotions. Of course, I still kept flirting with you, but most of that was ironic, a poor joke of what I had felt before.” Rolo readjusted his hat, his cool eyes fell on Keith again.

“When I almost kissed you the other day, that was a slip-up from past emotions. I tried to apologize not because of what I felt, but because I knew you loved someone else.” Keith didn’t know where he was going with this, and he didn’t know what to say to all of this, these confessions. He sat there, not moving, not taking his eyes away from Rolo. 

“See, when I thought I was in love with you, I thought my feelings were strong.” He laughed loudly, “But compared to everything you just told me, it seems like I don’t really know the feeling of truly being in love.” Rolo smiled softly at him. 

“That’s why you need to tell him. Your emotions are so strong and so stubborn, what you feel for him goes beyond petty infatuation. He needs to know this, how you feel, no matter what romantic situation he’s in. If what I witnessed that night was real,” Rolo gave him a look that said ‘and I know it was’. “Then he might know exactly what you mean.” 

Rolo stood up hands in his pockets and walked to the door. “You don’t know until you try.” He smiled before opening the door and stepping out. 

Keith sat there, dumbfounded. The dull click of his door closing resonating in his head. 

He had to tell Lance. He had no other choice, no matter what the answer was, Keith knew he wouldn’t be able to keep going like this, he would never be able to move on. 

Determined, Keith bolted to his room to find a pair of pants and some shoes. He had to do it now, he didn’t have any other choice.

 

He ran out of his apartment mere minutes later, the door slamming shut. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOO BoY, will the author finally get to the damn climax of this story?? Will there be any happy scenes in this story?? WIll the author successfully dig herself out of the dark hole of angst she dug herself into???   
> Find out nEXT TIME!!! 
> 
> Send me messages or any random stuff on Tumblr! @keiths-galra-mom   
> (or u can comment)


	6. Blast From the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oof

“Damn, looks like the little ballerina isn’t wearing her tutu, why is that?” The taller boy stood over Lance, broad shoulders and a menacing grin. 

“What, are you gay or something?” Another boy chipped in, a snicker hidden behind his grimy hands. 

Lance gripped his backpack handles as he glared up at the three seniors blocking his way. “I didn’t ask for your opinions nor do I give a shit.” His words were cold and unwavering. Lance was used to this by now, almost an entire year of being made fun of for taking Ballet freshman year instead of something “manly” the other boys did like soccer, football, or rubbing your almost naked body against another man for long periods of time, getting sweaty and hot-sorry, he meant wrestling.

The taller boy, Chad, laughed. “Poor little ballerina thinks we care enough about her to give her our opinions!” The two other boys laughed, the trio looking like a pack of hyenas cornering their newest kill. 

“See, if you guys had actual brains instead of air pockets in your head, you’d know that you are giving me your opinions, therefore, you give a shit about my reactions. Sadly, you’re a bunch of idiots blocking my way to math, so move.” Lance glared at them, starting to walk forwards so they would move out of the way but instead they circled in closer, pushing him back against the lockers. 

“Listen here you little bitch, I don’t give a crap about your gay little girl ass nor am I stupid, so back your whore mouth up before we beat some sense into you, got it?” Chad’s breath was hot against Lance’s skin, his face pulled into an expression of pure rage. Lance’s glare didn’t relent, he gripped his backpack straps even tighter though, the threat not going through unheard ears. 

“Fuck. Off.” His voice was strong despite the slight tremor in his arms, his eyes boring into Chad, daring him to make a fucking move. Chad snarled when behind him, a backpack dropped. 

“Hey, asshole!” Chad turned at the new voice, glaring. “He said fuck off.” A pale hand burst out, punching Chad square in the nose. As he stumbled back, Lance moved out of the way, letting him go down crashing. Wow, weak. 

The two other boys came at the pale boy, but in a blur that Lance will not even try to say he understood, the pale boy kicked out and suddenly both were on the floor. Who the fuck was this? He wasn’t tall or short really, sort of medium height and he had long black hair. What kinda hairstyle is that? He looked kinda emo actually. A black shirt and red plaid on top of ripped black jeans and black combat boots. Who the fuck was this? 

“Come on!” The pale guy shouted, extending a pale hand out. Lance was stuck, he had no idea what just happened nor what was happening. But he took his hand. 

The two took off away from the jerks passed out on the floor, and Lance would normally ask where everyone was to allow this to happen but no one was there when they cornered Lance so fuck this school. 

_ Well, there  _ **_was_ ** _ someone.  _

Lance looked up at the pale guy running ahead of him, his black hair slipping out of a small ponytail, the gloved hand warm in his, the red backpack held in the other hand. This was a surreal experience. 

_ Wait _ …

“Wait! Dude! Where are we going?” Lance shouted out in case the pale boy couldn’t hear him. The boy turned slightly, his eyes widening as if he just remembered Lance was an actual human with thoughts and a voice. Hmph. 

The boy suddenly stopped, throwing Lance a bit with the momentum and jesus fuck, his head sort of hurt. Lance was panting, the exertion of running for reasons other than to pass his class catching up to him. He looked up at the pale boy who now had on a slight blush from embarrassment. How cute. 

“Sorry, uh, I probably shouldn’t have dragged you like that.” The boy looked slightly apologetic, which was a huge goddamn change from his glaring earlier. Christ, Lance thought he was probably gonna stab Chad if he hadn’t passed out, he had that kind of angry face. 

“I’m Keith.” The boy stretched out his hand a second time, a small awkward smile on his face. It was almost as if he didn’t know how to smile. This guy was fun. 

Lance grinned and jumped up, his energy back at full power now that he saw how awkward this kid really was. “The name’s Lance!” He shot out his usual wink and took the boy-Keith’s- hand again. “So tell me, Keithy, what made you save me from the big bad wolf?” Lance raised his hands to fix his hair a bit as he waited for a response. 

Keith shrugged. “Honestly, I thought you were really cool out there. You didn’t back off and even though there were three guys, you held your ground, and I admire that.” He was looking at the floor, his hair over his eyes. “And you also looked like you needed help seeing as, you know, there were three of them.” 

Lance laughed out at that. “Well, sure didn’t seem to stop you, samurai. How did you even do that! It was insane! Like one moment Chad was all over you and your short little self was like ‘nope’ and you just _yeeted_ the fuck outta him, like holy shit! And then the Bulldogs came up and your leg just swooshed and bam they were on the floor!” Lance was ranting, he started to realize but he really couldn’t stop himself anymore. Shit, he was probably overwhelming Keith and he’d walk away and leave Lance and never talk to him again. Well, shit. 

“I like you.” Keith suddenly said, stopping Lance’s rambling. “You’re a nice guy.” Lance blushed now, he wasn’t used to compliments. 

“Yeah, well, wish others thought like you. People don’t take kindly to a boy in ballet.” Lance deflated. Of course, he was used to it, the stares as he walked out of class, the whispers when he was in his dance suit, the laughs as he practiced. But just because he was used to it, didn’t mean it hurt any less. 

“But that’s like the coolest thing about you!” Keith’s outburst shook him out of his thoughts again. This pale boy was pretty good at doing that, no matter where Lance’s mind went to, huh. “You’ve gotta incredibly athletic and have amazing flexibility in order to even try to do ballet.” His face was filled with awe, his dark eyes shining with his words. What color were his eyes? They looked sort of purple, but people didn’t have purple eyes did they? Oh, what about that Facebook article he re- 

“Lance!” His eyes darted back to the face of a very confused, very pale boy. 

Lance laughed apologetically. “Sorry, I um, tend to lose myself in my head a bit, I know it's annoying, I’ll try to stop it.” Lance was used to it, the people yelling at him to pay attention, getting pissed off at how easily he got distracted. It was his routine by now, meet someone, accidentally ignore them, lose a friend. 

But Keith smiled. 

“That’s completely understandable. I know what it feels like to get lost in your own head, it's a vortex up there.” Keith was smiling at Lance. It didn’t seem real, he took everything Lance threw at him and he was still standing there, a smile on his face. He found his new best friend. 

 

 

 

Shit, he was late to math. 

\-----

Keith didn’t want to talk to anyone. Every person that came up to him, he would shrug off. 

He couldn’t stand it, not today, not now of all times. Keith hated that they even tried to talk to him. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right. Didn’t they see? Didn’t they recognize the utter fucking mess he was? His failures and mistakes towered over everything else. 

The last bell rang. Keith got up faster than any of them, wishing to hell he could finally be alone. Why did he come today? Why was he even here? 

A small voice entered Keith’s jumbled thoughts. A bright voice. He couldn’t think straight, he couldn’t breathe. 

“Keith? Are you okay?” A pair of blue eyes looked worried. They made him want to cry, to open up, to express, he held back. His hands shot out, shoving the person speaking away. Too hard, too much, the person fell backwards, a pained cry on their lips. Their voice was still bright, how was it still bright, how was that possible, who was he? 

“Keith?” Blue eyes spoke again, louder, more concerned. “Keith, buddy, talk to me!” They pleaded, they begged, but Keith couldn’t. 

“Fuck off! Leave me alone, you pathetic asshole!” Keith had burst. It was all too much, too soon, too harsh, he couldn’t stop. If he stopped now, he’d start crying, he’d fall apart, he couldn’t take that chance. 

He took one last look at Lance, oh Lance, sitting on the floor, taken aback with a shocked and pained expression … he did that to him. He hurt Lance. Of course he did, why did Keith think anyone would ever be different, it always ends like this, always, everything. He had to leave. 

He grabbed his bag and stormed off, not home, he could never go home on this day, so he went to the only other place he knew. The Hideout. 

It was weird for a freshman in high school to have a hideout, but Keith needed it and for good reason. Sometimes, the world was too much for him. He needed a calm place to hold himself. It was by the shore, a little hidden cave, cleaned out by Keith and decorated by Lance. He didn’t know why he told Lance about his hideout in the first place, but he didn’t regret it. It was certainly nice to have someone there and remind him he’s not alone. 

But now he is. Lance was hurt, he had seen the real Keith, he wouldn’t be back now. Keith threw his bag on a beanbag chair and sat on the floor with a blanket covering him. He could feel himself warm up, but it wasn’t enough. It never was. 

A soft padding came from the mouth of the cave and Keith shut his eyes. A thud as a bag was thrown and a soft exhale as a seat was taken. 

Keith felt an arm around his shoulders, a weight heavy, warm, and real. He used it to ground himself and he shut his eyes tighter. A soft sob escaped. He couldn’t hold it back anymore, it was too much, too soon, overwhelming. He felt Lance’s head on his own, his hand soothing him as it rubbed his shoulders. Lance’s presence was overwhelming, the boy held a power no one else did in Keith’s life, and Keith didn’t know what to do with that. 

“It was today,” He slowly started out. His eyes still tightly shut. “I had gotten into a fight with someone in my class. 4th grade.” Keith wiped his nose with the back of his hand, forcing himself to open his eyes. 

“My mom was called to pick me up, she was furious.” He smiled a bit, but it was pained. “She picked me up and started telling me violence isn't the answer unless they started it. The kid hadn’t.” He looked over at Lance and their eyes met. “It was snowing that day. So hard, almost a storm. The roads were slippery.”  

He saw how Lance’s eyes widened as he connected two and two. Keith never talked about his parents, about his mom. Of course, Lance had come over on several occasions to his house, met his dad, his cat, but never did he question why his mom wasn’t there. 

Keith sniffed, holding his head in his hands as Lance tugged him closer. “We crashed. It happened so fast, one moment we were on the road the next, a tree was through the front view window.” Everything was sticking to his throat, building up a painful pressure needing to be released, but not knowing how. He swallowed through it and went on.

“It was a few hours before they found me. On impact, I passed out. I was safe, not a scratch anywhere on me. Other than a small bruise from where I smacked into the window, I was fine.” Keith’s voice cracked. “But she wasn’t.” 

Both of Lance’s arms came around him as Keith shut his eyes tighter, small, hot tears bursting through. “If it hadn’t been for me, Lance, she could’ve…” He took a deep breath before crumpling again. “It was her birthday, that day. My dad had planned a surprise party for later that night, and I… I fucked it all up.” Keith wrapped his arms around himself tightly, almost painfully. His chest hurt and his eyes burned, the need to scream out, the guilt eating away at his insides, the pain of the memory, his father’s face when he heard. 

Keith sat crying in the darkened cave, his sobs resonating off the walls. 

“It wasn’t your fault.” Lance’s voice comes out as a whisper, soft and stern, reaching into Keith. “Keith, you were a kid, you couldn’t control the weather, the slipperiness of the roads, it wasn’t your fault.” Lance’s voice grew louder in strength and Keith couldn’t stop himself from looking up and into his eyes. 

“If she could see you today Keith…” Lance stopped, a breathy smile on his lips. “She’d love who she saw. A brave, selfless, caring boy who would do the right thing no matter the consequences. Who saved a pathetic boy in a tutu from being beaten up by jerks. Who kept saving that boy and countless others even when you didn’t get anything out of it.” Lance smiled at him, raising a hand to wipe away his tears. “You’re not at fault. And I know this talk can’t do away with all your emotions and feelings, but I’m here to make things a little bit easier, okay? You’re not alone.” 

The rush of emotions Lance picked out of him were too much, too soon. He didn’t know how to respond, so with fresh new tears of gratitude, Keith threw himself into Lance with a hug. They fell asleep cuddling in the cave, Lance soothing Keith, and Keith opening himself for Lance to see. 

It felt like everything would be okay. Like a puzzle missing one single piece found it again, finishing the beautiful picture.

 

 

As the years went by, they both learned the harsh truth; there is not perfect, beautiful picture.

 

 

At least not for them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed! I know I've been dead for a while, but alas, senior life! I'll be updating this story and writing more soon, that I can promise! 
> 
> If yall got any questions or just wanna bug me for the fun of it, my Tumblr is @keiths-galra-mom 
> 
> Also, oof angst


	7. A Peaceful Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not peaceful at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Waening for some heavy language and crying again in this chapter, be wary!

It was quiet, lest for the soft mellow music coming from the speakers. He felt light and free, floating as he leaped in the air. Lance closed his eyes, twirling slowly, letting go of all his stress and pain, he was at peace with himself and the universe. 

“Ow, sorry Bella..” But he sure fucking wasn’t at peace with Alberto. He opened his eyes to see the one main cause for his distress in ballet, Alberto, apologizing profusely to the red haired girl named Bella, who he had hit in the face somehow even though the twirl was meant to be low. Lance sighed deeply as he looked over his group, they had a dance recital in two weeks and they were practically ready, if it wasn’t for Alberto. 

“Alberto,” He put a hand on his hip and he tried to not strangle this idiot. “I’m going to tell you one more time, it’s fourth position en bas. EN. BAS.” Alberto flushed, embarrassed, and nodded vigorously as he started practicing again.

Looking over his team, he watched as they danced, jumped, twirled. He was damn proud of himself for putting this together. 

As practice ended, he waved at his team goodbye before locking up the practice room. He was exhausted… but happy. The recital was going to showcase all of his talents, everything he’s worked on for years, and maybe someone important will be in the audience. Someone who recognizes just how good Lance is and will steal him away to dance on the big screen. Or the big stage. Either would work. 

He walked across the courtyard feeling better than he’s been in days. For just one night, Lance thought everything would work out just fine. It was getting late, so the courtyard was empty except for a few students returning home, the usually busy life toned down to a peaceful and quiet atmosphere. The grass was full of dew from earlier rain, the lights starting to turn on as the sun went down. Lance smiled to himself as he walked slowly, taking in the view of sunset on the campus. This was nice.

“Lance?” A voice called from behind him and Lance sighed, the grip on his blue dance bag tightening. Of course. “Is that you, Lance?” 

Plastering on an award winning smile, he turned around quickly, facing the person calling him. “Oh, Daniel! Hi, um, how are you?” He let out a slightly awkward laugh, his feet shifting anxiously on the grass. “Been a while huh, what’s, um, what’s up, dude?” 

The last thing Lance needed at this moment was Daniel. He won’t lie, Daniel was sweet and kind and pretty damn good in bed, but Lance couldn’t pretend to care about him if his heart was somewhere else. Daniel stood in front of him an awkward smile on his face, his hands stuffed in his jean jacket pockets. He carried a black bag on one shoulder, he probably just got out from a class. 

“Hey so, um, I’ve been texting you the past few days,” He raised an eyebrow softly, “You, uh, haven’t responded.” The crooked grin mixed with a look of sincere worry was just too much for lance to swallow.

He cringed internally, this is what he was fearing. He laughed a bit too loudly and looked around to ease the awkwardness. It was getting dark. “Oh, yeah, I haven’t really had the time, you see, I’m practicing for a recital right now, I have a show in two weeks, you understand, right?” Lance hugged his bag as if to prove a point, making a show of looking down at his ballet outfit, but Daniel wasn’t buying it. His face was a mix of incredulousness and the “why the fuck you lying” meme. Lance groaned internally.

“Look, the truth is, I can’t do this right now, Daniel.” Lance closed his eyes and sighed before looking down on the grass. “I-I came to a realization the night we went out, and I’m sorry but… I’m in love with someone else. I can’t keep seeing you.” He looked up into Daniel’s eyes, who slowly stepped closer. He had to be straightforward, speak the truth and stop dancing aroumd it, he was sure Daniel would understand... Maybe..

Lance didn’t know what he was doing, he never apologized for a one night stand before and he didn’t understand why he was doing so now.

Might be the little fact that for the first time, you have a someone else you want to spend your time with.

Lance really hated his inner monologue.

He took a deep breath before continuing. “I tried to push it away for years, I thought maybe if I fuck everyone, I’ll forget him, but as you can see it didn’t happen. The café date… was to see him.” The courtyard was almost silent now. Night had fallen and the stars started shining above him, silent and beautiful in their wake. “I know it was fucked up, using you like that, but I wanted to get a reaction, see if he cared about me at all, or if it was just wishful thinking.” Lance refused to meet Daniel’s eyes, he knew he had fucked up big time and he couldn’t bear looking at what his failures did. 

“So, the rude waiter, was…” Daniel spoke quietly, his voice breaking. “Was he the person?” 

Lance couldn’t answer but his silence spoke for itself, he heard a scoff and shuffling in the grass next to him. “This is stupid, I mean,” Daniel took a deep breath before going on, “I really felt like we had clicked, you’re better off with me rather than that asshole that could barely give you the time of day!” His voice was slowly starting to get louder with each sentence, Lance didn't know what to do other than stare. “While he was off, throwing you dirty looks and being a dick, I was there to hold you in my arms and care about you. I told you from the beginning, the first conversation, that I would care for you and make you mine, what does he have that I don’t?!”

He was shouting now, rambling about promises and fate, Lance didn’t understand why he gave a shit, but Daniel was still shouting. What conversation, what goddamn promise did Daniel make, they hsd just met a week ago, none of this made any sense.

“Tell me Lance! WHAT DOES HE HAVE THAT I DON’T?!” Daniel grabbed Lance’s arm and yanked, pulling Lance down as his knees hit the floor. That was the final straw. 

Lance pulled his arm from his grip and glared standing up. “WHY THE FUCK, DO YOU CARE?” He was pissed off, Daniel had no right to touch him, to yell at him, to say **_anything_**. “You were a fucking one night stand, not a relationship! We met a fucking week ago, there is no fucking you and me! That’s all it was! I’m fucking sorry if you can’t fucking understand what a one night stand is, that you made up some relationship in your head that meant more than what it fucking was,” He grabbed his dance bag from the cold grass, “But it’s not my fucking fault.” He turned and stormed off, not saying another word. 

“Freshman year.” Daniel’s voice called back at him, Lance didn’t want to listen to any more, but he stopped in his tracks either way. “We were in English 101, sat right next to each other. I had a crush on you, and everyone told me to stay away. ‘He’s a slut’ they told me. I didn’t want to believe it.” With every word, Lance felt the prick of tears in the corner of his eyes. He pleaded silently against the words he knew were coming, the words rhat would make the cup finally spill. Lance wouldn't be able to handle any more of this. He heard a harsh laugh and he froze as Dani el spoke, “Now I see they were all right, you truly are nothing but a dirty, fucking whore.”  

All Lance could hear was the painful sound of grass as Daniel walked away. He couldn’t breathe, tears were flowing freely, his chest hiccuping harder and harder with every attempt at a breath. He ran. Lance already knew what he was, he fucking knew it, he hated himself for it every fucking day, but hearing it from someone he slept with, someone he had just opened up to, it stung harder than he expected. 

He ran, faster to get to his apartment as quickly as possible, tears blurring his view of where he was going before smacking straight into a solid body. “Lance?” A gruff voice spoke his name, a gloved hand reached out to steady him. “What happened?!” 

Lance was still crying, eyes red and breath loud and shallow, his hiccups shaking his entire body. “DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME!” His pounding heart was loud, but his voice was louder. He shoved the hands away from him, glared at the long black hair staring in confusion. “This is all your fault, all of this, LEAVE ME ALONE!” He shoved past Keith, crying harder and running faster, up the stairs of his apartment complex and down the hall. 

_A slut. A whore. A piece of ass_. That’s all he was to everyone who saw him. To everyone he talked to. 

Lance got to his door and looked down at his blue bag to get his keys, but it was open. His extra clothes were halfway out of the bag and his ballet shoes were missing, it made Lance cry harder. He dropped in front of the door, sobbing into his knees as the door behind him slowly opened. 

Hunk’s warm hands wrapped around him and he fell into the embrace. He felt sorry for Hunk, always having to pick up the pieces he broke himself, but he was always there for him. They got into the apartment together, Hunk questioning him and Lance finally telling him everything that happened. The almost-kiss. The date with Daniel. The realization of being in love. The yelling match just minutes earlier. 

Hunk was upset to say the least, and Lance understood perfectly, but he didn’t want him to say or do anything to either Keith or Daniel. Lance was exhausted and tired but luckily, when he looked out his window later that night, he saw the stars twinkling brightly just for him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a short chapter but I'm ready to start writing again lmao, the end is coming soon so strap on babes, this is gonna be a ride :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I wrote this in a span of 2 hours without any idea what this was going to be about or where it was going to go, but I think I'll keep adding on to this as I go. I still don't know what's going to happen next, but I hope you liked it!


End file.
